Sherwood Park, Alberta – With his third win of the PGA TOUR Americas season Sunday at the ATB Classic, second-year pro Michael Brennan secured exempt Korn Ferry Tour membership through the 2026 season via the Three-Victory Promotion. Brennan, who carded a 4-under 68 in the final round at Northern Bear Golf Course, tops the Fortinet Cup with two events remaining in the season.
Derek Hitchner recorded his second consecutive runner-up finish and moves to No. 10 in the Fortinet Cup points list after finishing the week at 18-under.
“It’s everything. It was my goal to start the year when I knew I was playing out here. Just try to focus in the offseason and kind of grind and make sure I was prepared to get out here. It feels amazing,” Brennan said Sunday after winning the ATB Classic, his third victory in his last four starts.
Brennan’s promotion to the Korn Ferry Tour completes a redemption story that started last September at the Fortinet Cup Championship. On the back nine of the final Sunday of the 2024 season, Brennan was leading the tournament and projected to finish in the top 10 of the Fortinet Cup. After extending his lead with a birdie on No. 11 at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, he played the next three holes in 7-over and eventually finished the tournament T3, resulting in a 18th-place finish in the Fortinet Cup.
Coming off a rookie campaign that included five top-10s in 10 starts, Brennan returned to PGA TOUR Americas and opened the 2025 season with back-to-back top-five finishes. In his 21st career start, he finally broke through with his first victory at the BioSteel Championship in August, and two starts later he followed with a playoff victory at the CRMC Championship presented by Northern Pacific Center.
In 14 starts on PGA TOUR Americas this season, Brennan has three victories and 10 top-10s and has risen to No. 159 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He is in position to follow in the footsteps of Johnny Keefer, who was No. 219 in OWGR when he won the 2024 Fortinet Cup and is now No. 59 and tops the Korn Ferry Tour points list.
Prior to turning pro in June 2024, Brennan was a two-time All-American at Wake Forest and earned PGA TOUR Americas membership by finishing No. 12 in the PGA TOUR University Class of 2024. He recorded eight collegiate victories, including a pair of ACC Championships, and finished with the fourth-best career scoring average (71.46) in Wake Forest history.
In addition to being exempt on Korn Ferry Tour next season, Brennan will be exempt into Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry as one of the top 10 players in the final Fortinet Cup standings.
Brennan is expected to be in the field at the Times Colonist Victoria Open presented by Andrew Sheret Limited, which will be contested at Uplands Golf Club from September 18-21 in Victoria, British Columbia.
